Phil is nationally recognized for his writing talent, wit and ability to analyze media trends. Those skills will serve him well as he takes on his new role, continuing a rich tradition at the Tribune of providing our readers with an array of columnist voices on different subjects.

Along with the splendid reporting and writing that our business staff provides every day, I’m certain Phil’s contribution is going to help take us to the next level.

June 09, 2011

Paige Wiser is out at the Chicago Sun-Times after 17 years, the last three as its television critic, because her "Glee Live!" concert review in Sunday's newspaper mentioned one song that wasn't performed and described another she did not see.

"I'm at fault," Wiser said. "I do understand what a big deal this was. I am ashamed, and it's just a matter of making bad decisions when you're exhausted."

Wiser, 40, said she brought her two young children to the show Friday at Rosemont's Allstate Arena with the approval of an editor who told her "cute kids' reaction would be more than welcome" in the story. Her son fell off a chair during the show. Her daughter vomited into a cotton-candy bag.

They left three songs later, only 13 numbers into the concert, but her report included commentary on the encore based on information from previous "Glee Live!" shows.

The Sun-Times on Thursday posted an editor's note about the lapse and Wiser's dismissal, and withdrew the review from its Web site.

For commentator Glenn Beck, whose $40 million in annual earnings comes from a variety of sources including a premium subscription website, it means replacing the daily Fox News Channel show he's ending this month with his own pay-video website, GBTV.com. "We're tired of a middleman," Beck said on his nationally syndicated radio program.

And for the Chicago Tribune, beginning next week, it means a redesign online and in print, where the paper will see the addition of 40 to 44 open pages for news per week to accommodate what Publisher Tony Hunter said in a note to employees will be "more content, greater depth, new columns and features."

"Nils is the right person to lead our broadcasting operations," Eddy Hartenstein, Tribune Co.’s CEO and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, said in the announcement. "He’s thoughtful, creative, and has the vision necessary to maximize the effectiveness of the group."

May 24, 2011

Pat Tomasulo of Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9 is set to make yet another visit to Disney-ABC's syndicated "Live With Regis & Kelly."

Tomasulo (pictured right) is set to fill in for Regis Philbin as Kelly Ripa's guest co-host on Friday. Other scheduled guests are to include Lombard, Ill., band Plain White T's, Milwaukee-born actress Heather Graham and the winner of "Top Chef: All Stars."

Randy Hano, a former publisher of Chicago Tribune Media Group's Chicago magazine, is joining Time Out Chicago as vice president and group publisher, effective June 13.

Hano will report to Frank Sennett, Time Out Chicago’s president and editor-in-chief.

"He fundamentally gets what Time Out Chicago does and is ready to elevate our sales function to a new level," Sennett said of Hano in the announcement.

The previous vice president and group publisher, Ivy Lester, exited earlier this month just seven months after replacing David Garland in the position, which oversees advertising for Time Out Chicago, Time Out Chicago Kids, Time Out Chicago Student Guide and the magazine's eating and drinking guides.

May 22, 2011

Satellite TV trucks were parked around a cul-de-sac in Bakersfield, Calif., last week.

Whatever the former housekeeper of Maria Shriver and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did or did not consent to in connection with parenting the child he admitted to fathering, it wasn't this.

As for the child, old enough to know what's going on, well, no one yet has had a say about their entry into the world, but this is a hell of a way to become the most-talked-about kid in school. The media haven't reported a name, but it doesn't take a lot of digging online to learn his mom's name, find a birth date and picture with the child's face obscured or sundry other details.

And then there have been the reporters, photographers and TV crews keeping watch outside their home.

The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune corporate sister that broke the news of Schwarzenegger's admission, has not identified the woman or even the gender of the child she had with the actor-politician whose separation from Shriver, his wife of 25 years, was announced the week before.

Time Warner's TMZ.com identified Schwarzenegger's former employee a few hours after the L.A. Times story, however. Soon other media outlets, including this newspaper (which ran a report from CNN inside Thursday's edition that cited The New York Times) have made the woman and the age and gender of Schwarzenegger's child almost ubiquitous, despite certain concessions to the fact he's a minor.

If it makes you queasy to think about the kid, the idea of a newspaper sitting on information it had might also cause uneasiness.

So when the floodgates opened, it wasn't entirely clear what constituted high ground.

May 18, 2011

All across America, it's graduation season. People close out one chapter of their lives and look ahead to the next in a rite of passage attended by those whose support helped get them this far. It's a time for reflection and revelation, excitement and anxiety, pep talks and pride.

With pomp and ceremony, if not "Pomp and Circumstances," television has the same ritual.

May 16, 2011

Neal Sabin, Weigel Broadcasting's innovative executive vice president and the general manager of its Chicago outlets including flagship WCIU-Ch. 26, has been promoted to president of content for the entire company and Weigel's networks, such as the nationally distributed Me-TV and This TV.

With Sabin taking on greater responsibility programming all Weigel stations and networks, local and national multi-platform content, marketing and developing new revenue opportunities and strategies, the company is hiring a pair of former broadcasting executives from Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. to start in the next couple weeks.

About this blog

This is an expansion of the Chicago Tribune column I have written since April 2005, and the columns I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times and Los Angeles’ Daily News for two decades before that. It’s TV, radio, newspapers and whatever, both locally and nationally. Beyond sharing what crosses my desk—and my mind—this will be a venue for you to share your takes with me as well as with each other. About Phil Rosenthal